User blog:Emptylord/Custom Champion - Two Player Champion feat. Cho'Gall (Heroes of the Storm)
This custom champion is a mirror of Heroes of the Storm's Cho'Gall, a hero that is controlled by two players. Should such a concept be implemented on the League of Legends? Would it even work? It does fall into the "Champion select strategy" gameplay that Riot has historically stated they dislike (even if I don't believe they've ever actually taken this into account when designing a champion) - since picking Cho'Gall is a massive double-edged sword and requires a helluva lot of comp-planning and its subject to a lot of counter-strategies. Development ;Core Differences *HOTS' Blind Pick requires you to build your team before you queue up (and doesn't permit you to queue without both parts of Cho'Gall selected). In Draft Pick, Cho'Gall can only be selected be players who are part of a party and their Draft Pick system has two players select their champions at a time (and guarantees party members share the same pick phase - e.g. 2nd and 3rd picks). If one of them locks in as another hero, Cho and Gall are both disabled; and Cho and Gall cannot lock-in unless both heads are selected (and locking in will lock in both players). *HOTS has no Summoner Spells - there's no issue of what would happen if the Second Head uses Flash or Teleport. That said, Heroes features Mount and Recall spells on all heroes, both of which are disabled on Gall (although he has a unique replacement for Mount). *HOTS has global experience - there's no issue of whether both players should level at the same time. Laning is still important because you need someone in lane to get experience from that lane, so Cho'Gall is always a duo lane. Furthermore, they use a Talent system instead of a Rank-Up/Runes/Masteries system for all Heroes - and since everyone's levels at the same time, both players have their own progression experience. They each have access to 3 abilities at level 1 and can choose a talent every few levels (other levels only improve stats). At level 10 they can choose an ultimate ability from a selection of two. Some Talents grant them additional actives (such as wards and what League would call Summoner Spells, which occupy 1-9 hotkeys). A Talent system could perhaps make the second player's experience more enjoyable - making sure both players enjoy themselves is something to take into serious consideration. *HOTS replaces disconnected players with AI, including either head of Cho'Gall. HOTS has fairly competent AI that is supplemented with streamlined gameplay/objectives, making this not an end-of-the-world issue. While this champion should by no means be balanced around disconnects - some consideration should probably be made. ;Core Requirements *At least one of the duo is manaless or they have separate resources. I'm not going to entertain the prospect of having two players share a secondary resource. As far as power budgets go, this decision is suitably off-set by the fact that killing one unit puts the allied team down two champions as well as the fact that Player Two has no control of movement. *Player One should probably be melee. Whether or not Player Two is design to "support" Player One or whether they are an independent damage dealer, I believe the gameplay is richer if positioning is a core gameplay aspect of Player One. Ideally, it should be possible for both heads to be either the carry or the support (Fighter+Mage or Duelist+Support, respectively). *Player Two needs a spammable spell that substitutes as a basic attack, similar to . *Player One has an ability that can be directly interacted with by the Player Two (e.g. Cho'Gall's Magma Bomb and Runic Blast). ;Problem Solving *Each player benefits from different stats and gains no benefit from other stats. ** Health, Health Regeneration, Armor, Magic Resistance, Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, Critical Strike Damage, Armor Penetration, Life Steal and Boots. ** Ability Power, Cooldown Reduction, Magic Penetration and Spell Vamp. **Alternatively, this could be "simplified" to sections of the store (e.g. the Player One has access to Offence, Defense and Boots; while the Player Two has access only to Magic). *Player Two utilizes a Talent system instead of a Rank-Up system, giving them a more interactive experience than simply growing linearly to the Player One. *Alternatively, the Talent system is instead used as a unique shopping experience - either disguised as items, or runes, or "training", with each tier costing an increasing amount of gold (or experience) (with the values serving as a balance lever for the champion's power curve). The champion could either gain skill points whenever Player One does, or instead have static abilities. **For example: Player Two does not earn gold or experience. Instead, he earns a unique bounty, Runic Affinity, equal to the combined gold and experience for the kill. Whenever Player Two has sufficient Affinity, he is prompted to open the "Store" and may select a Talent. This can be done from anywhere on the field and at any time. This particular example means that Support and Carry Player-Two earn Affinity at a slightly different pace, making their experiences different. *The Player Two has access to unique Summoner Spells. *In the event Player One disconnects, Player Two gains the ability to control the Duo's movement but is . Neither gains the ability to cast the other's abilities. **Perhaps this champion's experience could be simplified by having Player One viable as a standalone champion, with Player Two being an optional addition. This major downside to this experience is that I don't want Player One players to queue with the intention of going solo and being "trolled" (since there's only a limited time to build a comp, this would affect the whole team) - ideally, this champion should only ever be selected with the intention of duoing and all players should have an expectation that this champion will be a duo (either sacrificing a jungler for a duo in tope or mid; that the champion is going bot lane; or that bot lane will be a solo lane). ;Themes *Two-Headed creature - perhaps Frost Troll mages have two heads? *Two creatures in one - such as DhaMa the Force of Balance, (explorations here and here, Dirk the Noxian Beastmaster, Finn and Ebb the Tidehunters or the original concept for . *One possessed creature - with the possessive half perhaps hailing from the Shadow Isles or The Void. Working Draft Player One and earns as a single champion, but only Ska gains Skill Points from level-ups. Each of '''Lord's' basic abilities are available at level 1 and cannot be ranked.'' |description2 = Ska and Lord earn kills and assists separately, and is worth a Double Kill to takedown. The two should decide among themselves who receives bounty from minions or secures the greater amount of bounty from champion kills. |description3 = Ska is a melee fighter who has complete control over the Duo's movement and basic attacks, while Lord is mage who is at the mercy of Ska's motor controls. Only Ska may purchase items and is the only of the Duo who can improve the Duo's Champion Statistics, which the exception of , which is unique to Lord, and Cooldown reduction, which they each have separate stats. }} Ska beings reeling his fist (channeling), during which time he can move. After 1 second, Ska gains the ability to cast Mega Inferno Punch again for 3 seconds. If Mega Inferno Punch is not used used, half the cooldown is refunded. Ska uses the momentum built up to fling the Duo toward the target area, dealing physical damage to all enemies in an X-radius area on impact. |leveling = |cost = |costtype = |cooldown = |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = |notes = }} Ska unleashes a wave of loathing that emanates in all directions, cursing all enemies hit for a portion of their health. The curse discolours the right-most portion of the targets health, similar to a health shield.. While the curse holds, the target's armor and magic resistance are reduced by 50% and the Duo restore 1 health for every 1 damage dealt to the Cursed Health. |leveling = |cost = |costtype = |cooldown = |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = |notes = }} Ska rolls a ball of magma forward in a line, dealing physical damage to enemies it hits. Lord can detonate Magma Core, dealing damage to surrounding enemies. |leveling = |cost = |costtype = |cooldown = |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |notes = }} Ska beings a physical chant (charging), causing the ground in a large cone before him to begin rupturing. Enemies within the area are slowed, which becomes stronger over the duration. After 1 second without interruption, Ska knocks all enemies toward him, dealing physical damage and slowing them for a further 0.75 seconds. |leveling = |cost = |costtype = |cooldown = |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = |notes = }} Player Two nor can he purchase items. Instead, Lord gains for every he would earn. Lord also generates for every the Duo earn. Affinity grants Lord the ability to choose a Talent.|Reaching cumulative Affinity grants Lord the ability to choose a Talent.}} |description2 = .|'Lord' gains a total of .}} |notes = * Or, remove the Experience Affinity and have earned| cumulative}} from gold alone. }} After drawing energy (charging) for 2 seconds, Lord throws a charge of pure energy forward in a line that deals 50 + (10 level) + magic damage to the first enemy it hits. The charge time is reduced by 1% for every 1% of Lord's cooldown reduction. |description2 = If Arcane Strike hits an enemy, Lord gains a stack of that increases Arcane Strike's damage by 50% for 4 seconds (up to 2 stacks). |cooldown = No Cooldown |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = |notes = }} Lord fires a homing bolt of arcane energy at the nearest enemy, dealing 50 + (10 level) + magic damage. Lord will unleash an additional bolt for every stack of . Enemies can only be targeted by a single bolt. Arcane Blitz deals 50% more damage for every stack of and consumes all current stacks. |cooldown = 4 |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = |notes = }} Lord detonates Ska's Molten Core, dealing 50 + (10 level) + magic damage to surrounding enemies. Arcane Pulse deals 50% more damage for every stack of and, if it strikes at least one enemy, refreshes timer. |cooldown = 4 |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = |notes = }} Lord infuses Ska with 30% total movement speed for 3.5 seconds. |cooldown = 60 |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = "Move you oaf!" |notes = }} Lord makes the Due invulnerable for 2 seconds. |leveling = Unlocked at level 16, or 11 with Psychotic Break. |cost = |costtype = |cooldown = 60 |range = |targeting = |affects = |damagetype = |flavor = |notes = }} Talent Tree | | Lord surrounds the duo with a barrier that deals 75 + (15 level) + magic damage every second to enemies in contact with it, generating a stack of Overload for each unique enemy champion damaged over the duration.//File:ChampionSquare.png |Arcane Surge// Lord gains 40% cooldown reduction and increases his cap on cooldown reduction by the same amount for the next 10 seconds, and each of his abilities echo, occurring twice more after the initial cast with each echo dealing half as much damage.//File:ChampionSquare.png }} | | | | | | }} Trivia * Ska'Lord's name derives from the combined player names of the first game I played on Cho'Gall, Skadush and Emptylord, a feature the Heroes of the Storm employs to name the combined players. Category:Custom champions